Nap250, Olive or Black has never worked well for me.
I find him a low medium too rich that does not leave enough space for agility.
The Taksims were scooped up immediately, a guy using tube amps now has those. As far as my current speakers go, they were originally my back surround speakers in a 7.1 home theatre in my old house. They are just a temporary fix, I had Sopra 1’s here before I traded them in on my TT2. The situation I am in, comes from having a complete home theatre and seperate 2 channel setup in a house ( 2 rooms) and now blending the two into one room. I have been trying to downsize the amount of gear into one better setup in one room. There have been compromises along the way, ideally I could sell everything and start fresh. Doing that would result in losing too much money though, which I am trying to avoid.
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You are right,
but what i’m describing with the word emotion is something irrationnal,
it’s a metaphora.
For me the ATC are alive. Its just to give an image and a feeling about something.
And i am talking of their sound signature not the box itself…
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You are very lucky living in Canada because they make verity audio speakers which are the most natural sounding speakers. If you like harbeth you will like them. I have had 1 pair here and 2 lots of harbs
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Interesting, I have never heard Verity Audio speakers, I also have not heard Harbeth speakers either, kind of the reason for this thread. I am hoping to get some input before I actually go hear all the speakers I listed, none of which I have heard.
Well they are not very well known in uk but they are very flexible because the woofer can face back or front depending on the room. They come in 2 boxes to enable this . Look up the verity audio otello and get a listen if you can. Exceptionally natural sounding speaker
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I’m also in Canada, nice you have a dealer that takes trades and has so many of your target brands to audition. I bought Kudos S10 used from a local perso (about 3.2k), they were nice with a SuperUniti and I like them even better with the Nova. Neither the UQ1 or Atom seemed to have the same control; not bad sounding or anything, just thinner and noticeably not as good. I have Kudos X2 (ex-dem, about 1.2k) in (very large) bedroom with Atom and tbh this is also a very nice system. I like the very clean Kudos presentation, and almost always listen at lower volumes. Something to add to your data as you prep for your audition time.
You are in a broad place, facing a new speaker versus a wholesale system change. I’ve been following the SN3/ND?? threads but since it’s a big price jump and a very difficult thing to demo, I have no real ambition in that direction. Same goes for hero equipment… the Nagra gear has huge emotional appeal, since I was a kid, but is very hard to find and eye wateringly expensive so again one for the magazines rather than realistic ambitions at least for me. And I should emphasize just how much I enjoy the functionality and convenience, either directly via the Naim app or through Roon, that I have with both of the Uniti all-in-one systems. I did demo other amps that also sound fine but were not at all pleasant to interact with (and, going further, we’re off-putting for the other family members to even consider using). Maybe not a factor for you, but certainly easy to track at the demo.
Not sure what I’d be doing in your shoes, but maybe trying to settle on the basic concepts for your new smaller home as you do the survey audition at your dealer. Sounds like a few fun visits are in your near future, I hope you enjoy!
Regards alan
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From your list I’d choose Spendors and the ProAcs would be my second choice, they both seem quite accurate and musical to me and low level listening works very well. I have Spendors in my system.
However, I cannot know if you’d like the same qualities I liked.
Another UK speaker I really liked when I heard it recently was the Falcon Acoustics LS3/5A.
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I auditioned Harbeth 30s in a dealer with 272 and my 150x vs their 250dr.
In their large echoey room bAdly set up the 250 sounded significantly better, more solid and meaty than my amp. The Harbeth had a superb midrange, best speaker I’ve ever heard for voices.
But it was weaker than my speaker for the full range from deep to high and the balance seemed ‘wrong’ to my 
.
I then tried the super hl5+ in my house and again the Mid range was v. good. But the speaker was very soft sounding compared to my existing speakers. Not better overall.
But the Harbeth was not set up well, just put on a chair with dots of blu tac.
Low volume and small room – I’d listen to Devore O 93’s or 96’s if you can find them and in your price range.
Thanks for the very informative post Alan, good to hear some input on the S10’s. My thoughts on the Nagra integrated are maybe just get a really special all in one, and a nice pair of small speakers that work really well with it. I want to avoid the multi box, multi power supply never ending upgrade cycle that is all too common with Naim (sorry guys). Looks wise, I like the Kudos super 10’s better than any of the other speakers on my list. If it turns out that the Kudos and Nagra integrated work well together, one more end game upgrade for me could possibly be the Titan 505’s, when funds allow it. Full disclosure, I want to trade in my NDS/XPSDR and Superlumina cables to fund this change. After living with my Naim Core and Chord TT2 as a source for a couple of weeks,I am all set with that source. I don’t want a four box source any more, trying to simplify without downgrading the sound is the goal.
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To simplify without downgrading the sound you will have spend a lot (unless your kit is set up wrong or faulty) and/or reduce your options, e.g. by not being able to stream at high quality reproduction.
I do not use Tidal or Qbuzz, I prefer to own my music, rather than rent it. Core Into TT2 via DC1 cable is good enough for me.
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But that means when you go looking for new music - which I do about half the time - you have to do it at worse quality.
You mentioned Dynaudio’s , Think you might want to get a listen to Special 40’s I have a pair and they are really special. Also Dynaudio Confidence 20 if you could find a used set might fit the bill $$$ pricey but WOW! Not sure if there is a better dome Tweeter anywhere Dynaudio tweeters have always been great.
Other Brands I owed Harbeths SHL5 Didn’t get it for me… good midrange but kinda of boring, I’ve heard the newer SHL5 Plus are better but on this side of the pound the price is stupidly high. There’s also the new Harbeth 30.2 Anniversary… those should also be a winner.
KEF don’t get a lot of mention here but the new-ish Reference One’s Again pricey but keep your eyes on Canuck Audiomart, and Audiogon, may find a set used.
And lastly the new ProAc Response D2R… This maybe ProAc’s best stand mount ever… I owned ProAc D30R for a few years hated to let them go, the Ribbon tweeter is sublime (health reasons forced sale) I’ll bet my left nut that the new D2R will be fabulous…They will be room filling, image like no ones business, and have that you are there wonderful, natural ProAc midrange. Fit and finish are excellent and the maybe they are get off the bus speakers! Best advise I can give is buy the best speakers you can afford then spend a bit more…It’ll cost you less since you’ll have them longer 
Thanks for the detailed response. I’m also not enthralled by the appearance (the finish in particular, as I prefer traditional veneers), but I like what I’ve read about them, including the coherent 2-way design, with only a single capacitor to protect the tweeters. And that’s good to know that they paired well with Naim. I’d love to audition them, but the Taksims are quite rare in the US.
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Yup, but the OP asked for “warm and engaging” speakers. ATC are certainly engaging but I’d never describe them as “warm” and I’m a fan (see profile). Accurate, revealing, dynamic, for sure, but warmth is not a characteristic ATC, with their monitoring heritage, aim for.
Roger
What the word " warm" say when you wanna describe a sound ?
Because for me warm dont say nothing precise.
I think its always a perception game and we try as much as possible to explaining something abstract by putting some word on it. Everyone know it but we tend to forgot this when we talks about our taste.
So i think he must listen to the ATC because they are really successfull and unique speaker.
Btw, my brand new sn3 dont give any chance to the scm 40, and he is cold like the north pole😆.
If you liked the Neat Iota’s, I’d try the Iota Alphas.
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